The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Substrate processing systems may be used to perform etching, deposition, and/or other treatment of substrates such as semiconductor wafers. Example processes that may be performed on a substrate include, but are not limited to, a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, an ion implantation process, and/or other etch, deposition, and cleaning processes.
During an etching process, a thin film on a substrate is etched. Etching usually includes either wet chemical etching or dry etching. Dry etching may be performed by generating inductively-coupled plasma (ICP). The inductively-coupled plasma may be generated by coils arranged outside of a processing chamber adjacent to a dielectric window. Process gas flowing inside the processing chamber is ignited to create the ICP. While being etched, the substrate may be arranged on an electrostatic chuck (ESC) in a processing chamber of the corresponding substrate processing system.